It was a freezing winters day and dark clouds hung heavily in the sky threatening rain at any moment, the trees stood sadly in the cold bare and exposed without their leaves. The roads had started to get icy and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the snow arrived and winter would officially be here.

Jane sat at her desk her eyes hurt from looking at her computer screen for too long, she was exhausted it was barely after lunch but they had already had a full on day, interrogating three suspects for the death of a young girl who had been found in the trunk of a car in a parking of their alibis had checked out and Frost was in the process of checking the third, Jane was struggling to keep her concentration as she kept finding her mind wandering to the baby scan that she had tomorrow. Maura had seemed rather chipper when she had reminded Jane about it this morning, the detective had looked at her almost startled by her enthusiasm but Maura had just smiled wide whilst taping the sticky note to Jane's fridge just in case she forgot.

Getting up from her chair she stretched her back and sighed softly, she needed a massage making a mental note to herself to ask Maura whether she still had the number of those Thai masseuses who had worked wonders on her back before. She looked at the board where they had pinned photos of all their suspects, her eyes were looking but they weren't really concentration was almost entirely run out, glancing around the office it was almost empty there were several people still on lunch and others who had gone home for the day. Other than this one case it had been quite quiet on the the homicide front, which was a good thing for the public but a bad thing for Jane, she was always so restless when there wasn't anyone dead and no bad guys to catch.

Finding herself wandering to the elevator she hit the down button and within seconds she was on her way down the the morgue.

She saw Maura through the windows in her black scrubs still working on the autopsy, pushing the door open she went in and quietly made herself comfortable on the empty metal autopsy table behind the medical examiner.

"Hi" Maura had said without looking up from the body as she completed the final stitches in the Y incision.

"You're just in time" she said.

"Is baby brain real Maur?" Jane asked swinging her legs off the table like a child.

"Yes" Maura said still working on the body "It's more just forgetfulness though, due to your thoughts being constantly occupied by the foetus, why? Are you forgetting things already?"

"Foetus Maur?" Jane said with a laugh and Maura rolled her eyes smiling

"That's exactly what it is Jane"

Jane bit her lip "It's just my concentration is gone entirely" Maura turned around pulling off her gloves and placing them in her tray.

"That's probably just because you're anxious about tomorrow" Maura smiled and patted her leg lightly.

"No, well I mean maybe just a little…" Maura shot Jane a 'don't lie' look and Jane's brow furrowed in frustration.

"It'll be fine Jane" Maura reassured her "Doctor Green is the best at this, you're going to be in good hands and I'll be there too"

"I know" Jane said catching Maura's hand as she walked past "But what if…"

"I don't like sentences that begin with what if" Maura reminded her and Jane sighed still playing with the doctors hand nervously.

"But there are what if's Maur" Jane frowned and Maura tipped Jane's head up to look at her with her free hand.

"No, there's not" Maura reassured her softly "You're going to have a perfect healthy baby…we're going to have a perfect healthy baby"

Jane smiled and wrapped her legs around the medical examiners trapping her her in close enough so she could slip her arms around the woman and kiss her nose lightly.

"Okay, I believe you" she said.

"Good" Maura smiled not minding Jane's display of affection as most of her staff weren't in at the moment.

"Do you think it's too soon to be thinking about nursery colours?"

"Maura" Jane said leaning back her eyes wide with shock but a smile on her face.

"What?" the medical examiner laughed "It's an important decision"

"You sound like my mother, should we not get through the screening first, maybe?"

Maura shrugged "I suppose so" she said and looked at Jane with a small playful grin.

"So am I going to get these results Doctor Isles or shall we make out on the autopsy table instead?" Jane smirked and Maura flushed pink.

"Well I'd prefer the second one, but I suppose we should get back to work" Maura said and gave Jane a quick peck on the lips before untangling herself from the detectives trap of limbs and going over to the body to show Jane what she had found.

Jane had taken the results back up to homicide and for the remaining few hours at work her, Korsak and Frost had started going through the suspects again over and over again trying to find something, anything that would help them. The girl had no enemies, she was in her first year at college with a several close friends, no horrible ex-boyfriends, no angry parents, no one seemed to have anything bad to say about her. The only suspicious people that had found and interviewed had been a teacher and an old neighbour but both of their alibis had checked out so they were back to square one.

Jane couldn't help but feel like the frequent absences she had been taking from work were affecting her performance, usually she was so much more onto it than this, with ideas and possibilities swirling in her brain constantly, now she was a lot slower she didn't think of everything immediately and she was always finding herself getting easily distracted by something. It can't just be baby brain she thought, maybe she was a little out of touch with her detective side, a little out of practice.

Feeling frustrated and exhausted Jane was more than glad when they decided to call it a night and head home, she knew that Maura would have already gone home, and perhaps already be at Jane's house comfortably on the couch or in the kitchen if she had the energy to make them dinner. They had been staying at Jane's for most of the week, mainly escaping a still over excited Angela who had taken interfering with Jane's life to the next level.

"I can't take it anymore Maur, seriously I'm getting my locks changed and we are hiding away at my place" Jane had finally cracked after Angela had come in one morning and handed Jane a list of strange foods she needed to start eating, along with a catalogue to Baby Planet.

"Your mother has always had a key to your apartment Jane, I'm sure she'll want to get a new one when you change the locks so she can come and check on you" Maura had said but Jane had just shook her head viagrously.

"No, she doesn't need to check on me, I have you and you're an MD" Jane had said and Maura had laughed, she couldn't argue with that.

As Jane unlocked the door to her apartment the welcoming smell of pizza filled her nose, her eyes quickly scanning the place double checking her mother hadn't sneakily gotten in.

"My god" she said when the coast was clear, unloading the gun from her holster and tugging off her jacket.

"That smell is incredible"

"I take no credit" Maura said coming over to Jane a glass of red wine in her hand.

"It was all the cute pizza boy"

"The cute pizza boy?" Jane repeated slipping her arms around Maura and lightly kissing her lips, the bitter taste of the wine touching her tongue making her miss the taste of beer, or any alcohol in general.

"Am I not allowed to admire a fine physique anymore?" Maura asked looking up at Jane mischievously.

"I'm not sure" Jane said kissing Maura on the head before stepping around her and reaching for the open pizza box.

"I see you broke your 'Friday night is pizza night rule'?" Jane asked after taking a bite of the cheesy pizza that warmed every inch of her body.

"I know you were having a hard day" Maura gave a small shrug like it wasn't a big deal but Jane looked at her lovingly.

"You're honestly the best, have I ever told you that?" Jane said before taking another large bite.

"Yes, but not enough" Maura smirked pulling a stool up beside the counter where the pizza sat and picking up a slice.

"Well then you're the best most amazing person ever" Jane said with a cheeky grin and Maura just smirked.

"Thank you"

"I mean it Maur" Jane said her tone hinted seriousness.

"I really am grateful for…everything"

"I know" Maura said quietly looking at her wine glass. She was slowly becoming less and less mad with Jane, it was still going to take plenty more time for her heart to entirely heal from the hurt it had suffered, but each day when she woke up she felt a little bit better. The idea of a baby was still something she wasn't used to at all but it was growing on her as she realised she it was something that she was just going to have to accept sooner rather than later. Plus Jane's flesh and blood creating another soul, a tiny little bundle of joy, it didn't seem that terrifying anymore in fact she sometimes found herself thinking about what it was going to be like once they had a child in their lives.

Jane had noticed the smallest changes in Maura too and it was nearly like they were back to their old selves, of course they weren't and probably never would be but it was about as close as they were going to get and Jane would take that over nothing any day.

"Are you still anxious about tomorrow?" Maura asked with a frown and Jane knew she couldn't lie.

"Yes"

"Your bouncing your leg" Maura pointed out "That's a sign of anxiety"

"Is it normal to be this anxious?" Jane asked trying not to fidget, she knew every move she made Maura would have some kind of scientific explanation for why she was doing it.

"I'd assume so yes" Maura answered playing with the bottom of her wine glass.

"You assume?"

"Jane" Maura said looking up at her "You don't want a scientific explanation for everything do you?"

"Not if it's going to make me feel worse" Jane pouted, glad that Maura used her own opinion around Jane more often now, at least when they were at home.

"Just have an early night, get a good nights sleep and tomorrow we'll deal face tomorrow okay?" Maura said comfortingly and Jane just nodded obediently.

Jane went to bed a couple of hours later desperately trying to calm her nerves about the scan tomorrow she figured Maura's advice would be the best advice there was to take. She kissed the doctor on the forehead and gave her a long loving hug feeling the comforting warmth of Maura's body against her own, before she crawled into bed and switched off the light.

Maura didn't go to bed when Jane did, her brain was far too much awake for her to even think about sleeping and so she caught up on some paperwork then finished off a crossword she had started in the newspaper, and even began tidying Jane's living room.

She knew these actions were all also signs of anxiety and she tried to push those thoughts from her head but they wouldn't budge easily, Maura knew exactly what the risks were of being pregnant when you were 40 and older, and she vowed never to bring it up with Jane because she didn't want to worry the detective. She knew that having these negative thoughts were bad for her and so as much as she could she tried to focus on the positive things, telling herself that the baby would be fine and healthy, but being a doctor her mind was never at rest about the risks of anything.

Staring blankly at the TV Maura let out a small sigh, it wasn't boredom that she was dealing with, and it wasn't insomnia, she was just restless. Picking up the Baby Planet catalogue Jane had dumped on the coffee table she began to flick through it finding it shocking how many things people would actually buy for their infants.

As she flicked through each page she picked out the things she liked the best and wondered if she would ever get Jane to actually sit down and look through it with her, baby shopping was actually going to be quite fun Maura thought. Queen of the Dead and Queen of Shopping Maura thought with a satisfied smile.

Glancing at the time she saw it was just after midnight and she decided it was probably time for her to attempt to sleep, as a sleep deprived medical examiner would not be what Jane would want to wake up to in the morning.

She crawled into Jane's bed and shuffled close to the detective, fitting herself gently around the brunettes body feeling the immediate warmth radiating off her skin. She stared into the darkness for what felt like several minutes listening to the sound of her beating heart, she gently slipped her hand over Jane's stomach resting it lightly on the small bump that had grown there.

"I love you" she whispered into the darkness not noticing when she was finally released into the depth of sleep.

A groan awoke Maura from her peaceful sleep, her eyes opened immediately at the sound and she found herself still submerged in darkness with the only light coming from the red numbers on Jane's alarm clock. 2.11am. What had felt like almost an entire night's sleep for Maura had really only been a couple of hours. Another soft groan filled the room and Maura sat up, her leg felt warm where it had been pressed up against Jane and her hands were sticky from sweat. She hadn't recalled having a bad dream but she was aware of how fast dreams left people's minds when they were forced back into reality again, she reached over and fumbled to turn the light on her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness of the room. Click. The light came on and Maura instantly squinted in reaction to the burning golden light coming from the lamp next to her.

Rubbing her face to wake herself up she felt her sticky hands against her skin and when she pulled them away all she saw was blood. It was blood. Not a reddish brown stain. It was definitely blood. Thick, red blood.

Letting out a loud gasp she looked over at Jane who was lying on her side with her back to Maura curled up in the foetal position. Another small groan came from the brunette and Maura looked back at her hands.

"Oh god" she whispered panic beginning to arise in her chest "Oh no"

She immediately grabbed all the bed covers and tossed them back forcefully, discovering that she had been lying on the edge of a large pool of blood that was surrounding Jane.

Another groan was from emitted from Jane's mouth and Maura tried to stay calm, she crawled closer to Jane not caring that the blood was staining her silk pyjama's and she gently nudged the detective trying to bring her out of her sleep state.

"Jane" she whispered loudly "Jane wake up baby, please"

Jane moaned and rolled over towards Maura, her eyes fluttering slightly but quickly shutting again as the bright light burned them.

"Open your eyes" Maura begged her "Jane…"

She shook Jane a little harder and a pair of brown eyes were suddenly looking at her, sleepily, exhausted and in pain.

"Maura" Jane mumbled before another groan rolled from her lips and she clutched her stomach.

"Oh god" Maura whispered anguish filling her heart that was beating loudly in her chest.

"Sweetie you need to wake up"

"Maur…" Jane muttered her eyelids growing heavy again, wanting to shut but Maura wouldn't let them.

"Jane!" Maura shouted in despair, the detectives name filled the entire room and Jane's dark eyes were suddenly open again.

"You're having a miscarriage"

...I'm very nervous about this chapter but at the same time I'm also quite happy with it. I know it was brief and probably could have done with a little more detail but I was trying to go for the fast dramatic sort of pace (and I was extremely tired), but often in moments like this last one you don't have a chance to pay attention to fine details or even your emotions, it's just a fast immediate reaction. I'm sorry the past few updates have been a little shorter than normal as well,(they will be going back to their longer length soon enough I hope)I've been having a crazy week and I'm absolutely shattered but I desperately wanted to get these up for you.

Also in the name of housekeeping I just need to let you guys know I'm actually going to Australia tomorrow so if I don't update for a few days it's because I'm on holiday, but I plan to keep writing this while I'm away so hopefully when I get a chance to update there will be a backlog of chapters ready and waiting.

Let me know how you're feeling...

Thank you for your ongoing support. I have just realised we've hit 20 chapters, which is actually incredible considering I didn't think this would be more than a one shot and that's all thanks to you guys. I hope you keep reading as our lovely ladies definitely still have a lot to sort out.

Much love to you all and I hope you're having a good week so far xxx